MCC Lecture Series Brings Afghanistan Expert to Campus on 12 November

The Muskegon Community College Lecture Series is bringing renowned Afghanistan expert Dr. Alam Payind to campus on Thursday, 12 November 2009, at 7:00 p.m. in the Overbrook Theater. Payind, who will speak on “Afghanistan Since the Withdrawal of the Soviet Union’s Army,” has been the Director of the Middle East Studies Center at Ohio State University since 1986.

Payind is considered one of the most knowledgeable persons in the country on Afghanistan.  Having grown up in Afghanistan, he speaks Pashto, Persian, Urdu, and Arabic fluently, attended the University of Kabul (where he is still considered a faculty member), and he is also an advisor to the new Afghan government on educational reconstruction.

According to the OSU Web site, Dr. Payind served in the Afghan government as the Director General of Cultural and Foreign Relations, and was a professor at Kabul University before the Soviet invasion in 1979 forced him to seek refuge in the U.S.  Dr. Payind has seen Afghanistan through many phases: under King Zahir Shah, President Dawud, the ten-year Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Mujahiddin regime, followed by the Taliban regime, and the U.S.-lead invasion of Afghanistan, and subsequent Karzai government. His combination of academic qualifications and life experience uniquely qualifies him to give the cultural, historical, and current social context for recent events.

The lecture is free and open to the public. There will be a question and answer period following the lecture. For more information, contact MCC instructor Andy Wible at 231.777.0626, or Andy.Wible@muskegoncc.edu .